Serum container and injector.



PATENTEDL SEPT. 29,-1903.

T. J. LYNCH.

SERUM CONTAINER AND INJECTOR.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 8, 1902.

no MODEL.

WITNESSES; I

[NI 5N TOR Affomey m: Norms mans co. woYo-Lrmq, wnsamcram a. c

iatented September 29, 1905;.

- PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS J. LYNCH, or MARIETTA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SERUM CONTAINER ANDINJECTDR.

srncrrrcnrron formingpart of ream Patent No. 740,152, dated September 29, 1903. Application filed November 8,1902. Serial No. 130,546. No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LTHOMAS J. LYNCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marietta, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Serum Container and Injector, of which the following is a specification.

. My invention consists of a serum container and injector, and it is devised particularly for Io-use in the dissemination and application of diphtheritic antitoxin. It should be understood, however, that the invention may be used for other serums or for other medicines used hypodermically. In all cases where serums are hypodermically injected it is of the utmost importance that the serum itself should not be exposed to the air or other contaminating influences between the time it is put up at the laboratory and that of use. It is equally important that the injecting instru ment should be sterile. 7

It is now customary to distribute serums in glass receptacles hermetically sealed and each containing sufficient serum for one injection and to open such containing-receptacle by breaking a narrow neck of the container. There is more or less danger incident to this practice due to the fact that minute particles of the glass may become mixed with the serum or in someway be introduced into the syringe, and thence intothe wound, causing subsequent trouble. 7 My invention seeks to guard against all of these dangers; and it consists of a container for the serum which is never opened to the air between the time it is filled and when it is emptied at the time of making the injection; and it further consists of means combined with such container which constitute a hypodermic syringe all of which parts may be sterilized and kept in a sterilized condition until the moment of use.

rounded the needle is removed.

body are hermetically closed by stoppers B,

composed of some material that may be sterilized and may also be penetrated bya needle such as is used for hypodermic injections.

The container such as described, consisting of the body A, which is usually formed of glass, and the stoppers B, closing its opposite ends, is filled at the laboratory with a certain definite amount of the seruman amount sufficient to be used for a single injection. lVith each one of these containers I provide a hypodermic needle O. I prefer that the needle C should be of the peculiar construction illustrated in the drawings that is, having its opposite ends 6 0 pointed and being provided intermediate the pointed ends with a grasping enlargement c, the edge of which may be milled. Such needle after being carefully wrapped in cotton and paper is sterilized, in which wrapped condition it is kept until an injection is to be made, when stopper in one end of the container A. This may be done before the wrapping that sur- The needle will now occupy the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, one pointed end projecting through the stopper and into the fluid. I prefer that the inner face of the stopper, through which this needle is inserted, should be made concave, as indicated at b, in order to form a depression in which the last drop of the serum may collect around the exposed inner end of the needle in order to prevent any waste thereof. In order to expel the serum from the container, I' employ an airbulb D, that is secured to the end of ahollow needle E, the end 2. of which is pointed like the ends of the needle 0, thereby adapting it to be passed through the stopper situated at the end of the serum-container opposite to that through which the needle 0 has been passed. It will be understood that one of these bulbs and its attached needle are supplied with each container and that the needle E is thoroughly sterilized before it is inserted through the cork or stopper B. \Vhen the parts are assembled as indicated in Fig. 1,'a

, will prevent injury to the patient or displacehypodermic syringe is produced and thebody or fluid-containing portion A of which is the same receptacle as that in which the fluid was originally placed at the laboratory. It will also be observed that it is not necessary to break any part of the glass container in order to connect the injecting-needle or the expelling-bulb, nor is it necessary to expose the contents of the container to the air or to any contaminating object before the injection is made.

By using an elastic material, suchas rubber, for the stoppers B, Inot only employ ma terial that may be sterilized and that will hermetically close the container A, but I secure aflexible support for the hypodermic needle which permits a certain freedom of movement thereof, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. It is desirable to securethis freedom of movement because the patient often moves when an injection is being made, and this flexibility ment of the needle.

By forming the openings through the necks of the container so that they each have a portion that flares or expands inward, as represented clearly in Fig. 2, and employing therewith flexible stoppers I insure that thestoppers shall maintain their positions in the necks of the container, as after being forced into place the inner portions of the stoppers expand. In order to facilitate the inserting of the stopper in the neck of the container when thus constructed to flare or expand inward, I prefer to also flare or expand the neck in an outward direction beyond the most contracted part. Y

I prefer that the container should be of the shape shownthat is, of cylindrical form and substantially uniform in diameter throughout, except at the ends, where the tube is slightly contracted to form necks which operate to securely hold the stoppers in place. It may, however, be of different shapeas, for instance, of bulb form, with tapering ends or necks.

By forming the corks or stoppers with the enlarged flanges or heads that are adapted to bear against the ends of the container, as

represented in the drawings, I provide against danger of the stoppers being forced into the container when the perforated tubes or needles are forced through such stoppers.

While it is my intention that the parts of the syringe which I have described should be used but once, thus reducing to a minimum the danger of infection from the use of a needle which has been before employed and has not been properly sterilized, yet I do not limit my invention to such use, as all of the parts of the syringe are adapted for repeated use and may be so used if found desirable.

' Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A container for serums and like substances. to be administered hypodermically, consisting of a tubular body open at both ends, the open ends of the container being formed with necks constructed to flare or expand inwardly, stoppers for hermetically closing the open ends of the body constructed of yielding elastic material that may be penetrated by a needle and formed with enlarged or flanged heads arranged to bear against the edges of the necks of the body to prevent the stoppers being forced into the interior of the container when a needle is forced through them, substantially as set forth.

2. A container for serums and like substances to be administered hypodermically, consisting of a tubular body open at both ends and provided at its open ends with contracted necks constructed to flare both inwardly and outwardly, and stoppers fitting the said necks for hermetically closing the body, formed of a yielding,'e1astic material that may be pene or flanged heads arranged to bear against the outer edges of the necks of the body, substantially as set forth.

3. In a-hypodermic injector, the combination of a container for the fluid having one end hermetically closed by a stopper, and a hollow needle having one end adapted to be inserted beneath the skin of the patient and its opposite end adapted to be forced through the said stopper into the interior of the container, and means for forcing the fluid from the container through the said needle, substantially as set forth.

4. In a hypodermic injector, the combination of a container for the fluid having one end closed by a stopper adapted to be penetrated, a double-pointed needle 0, one pointed end of which is passed through the said stopper, and means for forcing the fluid from the container through the said hollow needle, substantially as set forth.

5. A needle for use in making hypodermic injections having opposite pointed ends 0, c, and the intermediate enlargement c by which the needle may be grasped and manipulated, substantially as set forth.

6. In a hypodermic injector, the combination of a body in which the fluid is contained having an open end hermetically closed by a flexible stopper B, and the hypodermic needle passing through the said stopper into the illterior of the container, and means for forcing the fluid from the container through the needle, substantially as set forth. a

7. In a hypodermic injector, the combination of a container for the fluid, a hypodermic needle through which the fluid is ejected, a stopper closing one end of the container, an air-bulb, and a hollow tube connected with the air-bulb arranged to be passed through the said stopper and forming an air-duct between the air-bulb and the interior of the container, substantially as set forth.

8; In a hypodermic injector, the combina- .trated by a needle, and formed with enlarged ICC ITO

tion of'the glass body A adapted to contain the air-bulb connected with the outer end of the fluid to be injected, the rubber stoppers the needleE, substantially as set forth.

B, B, closing the opposite ends of the body A, 1 7 r ,7 T the double-pointed needle 0 passing through r1 HOMAS IA 5 one of the stoppers into the container A, the W'itnesses:

hollow needle E passing through the other J. S. BARKER, stopper into the interior of the container; and GEO. B. PITTS. 

